Aaron's in Orlando

These are just a few pictures from our tour of Orlando this weekend. Julie, LA, the Aaron's gang and myself had a great time. Thank you to everyone that came out and cheered us on! The weather was warm and sunny. Just perfect for the race.
We were a little nervous going into the race. Not only was it our first of the season, but we couldn't let down our fearless leader from Aaron's, ED!
The three of us kept everything in check for the most part until Kenda attacked and got a 20 second gap. LA and Julie gave it their all bringing it back. I did a couple of jumps myself to try to get across. Eventually the Kenda girl came back to the field. Thank goodness! Unfortunately, the next lap they called 5 to go and said that the Kenda girl had flatted, so they were giving her another 20 second lead! I couldn't believe my ears! LA drove it around and a couple of girls attacked us and I went with them. We caught Kenda with one to go. And there were more attacks. I went with each girl trying to save as much energy as I could for the sprint. Out of turn three we were all spread out across the road. I stayed in the front and watched for the attacks to come. I lead it around turn four. It is an awfully long way from that turn so I didn't jump immediately. I waited a tiny bit and just decided to go. I kept shifting and trying to hammer as much as I could through the finish. We did it! Our first win of the season!

Farewell To Redlands

After 4 days of tough racing the "A Team" said farewell to Redlands and our wonderful host families, Carol and Dick Gentilli and Laurel and Andrew Haglund. Most of the team is heading home for a few weeks to rest and train before returning to California for the Sea Otter Bicycle Classic.

I couldn't have been more happy to see the team ralley on the tough and final stage, The Sunset Road Race...it's a race of attrition that can take down some of the best riders but our team seemed to have one of it's best days which to me shows a lot of character.

I want to give a big thanks to our staff, Jon Husk and Carrie Edwards, who made my job a heck of a lot easier as well as Gus Gomez who just jumped in and did whatever he could to help out the team and staff. Also, thank-you to Barbara Dowd, who came all the way out from Athens, GA to support the team and take photos all week.

Redland's host family

Carol made us this awesome sign before she took off this morning. She and Dick have been so supportive of ALL of us while we have been in their home. While they seem so excited to have us, I am sure they'll be slightly relieved when we leave and give them access to their house again. Thanks for letting us overtake the place!!

The Other Side

This weekend I will be down in sunny Orlando with local gals Julie and LeeAnne, while the rest of the team is out at Redlands. My race won't be as grueling as Oak Glenn, but I am going to be just as nervous. It is my first race this season and time to see how the leggos are doing. I also will have a bunch of Aaron's folks to cheer us on and support us. Time to rock and roll!

SHK

Fun Times In Visalia/Exeter

Sequoia Cycling Classic

Visalia, CA—March 18-19

By Catherine Powers

Refreshed from a day of recovery rides and shopping, Sarah, Rebecca and I piled into Felicia’s car for the trip to Exeter. We were up to our usual antics and made the car ride interesting with our fascinating J-lo hand puppet impersonations among other routines. My nose and lungs could tell when we were approaching Exeter as they were assaulted by the pollen from the blooming fruit trees.

We arrived at the McCauley’s house and were greeted by his son Andrew who cheerfully showed us around and offered up his room. Shortly thereafter our host Mayor Ted arrived and after making sure we were well taken care of, he headed out to complete his own grueling training regimen (not only is this man the Mayor of Exeter, he also sells insurance and somehow finds time to train for the Exeter Time Trial!). Later that evening we met Janice McCauley and were treated to delicious hamburgers.

We spent the week training in the gorgeous green hills around Exeter, waving to the cows along the way. I was convinced I was sick, since I don’t usually suffer from allergies but after the 3^rd day Coach Carmen made me suck it up and train. We rode the time trial course several times and I tried to master those scary downhill turns while Sarah did her first intervals of the season. We got to finish our rides by soaking our legs in the still-frigid pool at the McCauley’s and then relaxing in front of the television with Andrew.

On Thursday, Sarah and I got to ride with a group of local Exeter cyclists (including Ted) which was fun until some of the women dropped us on the hill! Later that evening, Kat Carroll arrived so we were able to add a few new jokes to our repertoire (some of the old ones were starting to wear thin).

From Friday on it was all business. Friday morning we attended the sponsor breakfast in Exeter where we were treated to pastries, espresso, eggs and coffee courtesy of the Wildflower Café. We enjoyed fraternizing with our friends from other teams and hearing Mayor Ted give a great speech.
We were thrilled to see that Kathy Reed, Velonews’ new crack reporter would be reporting on our race since that means the women’s race will get full and in-depth coverage. And we were also happy to meet Sheri Clark, who worked so hard to get us a PRIZE LIST EQUAL TO THE MEN’S. After breakfast, we headed up over Rocky Hill with sponsors, community members and other riders. Then it was home to shower and change for school visits. Janice had invited us to Rocky Hill Elementary School where she is a librarian. Sarah and I were greeted by a large crowd of charming, eager children who had lots of great questions about cycling like “What do you do when you have to go to the bathroom while you’re riding?” and “What happens when you get really tired?” After the question and answer period, I got to read a story to them about Norma Jean the Bicycle Queen. Then we headed over to the Heart after school program at Lincoln Elementary School where we met our teammates Kat, Rebecca and the newly arrived Carmen Small-McNellis.
We gave another presentation, explaining how our bikes work and stressing the importance of wearing a helmet. These children were younger, so their questions were more amusing: “Are you a boy or a girl?” and “Do you get scared?” and “My dad has a bike.” and “Who is Aaron?”

Friday night we fueled up on lasagna and went to bed, dreaming of the time trial. Saturday morning the mood was very serious in the house. Everyone was focusing, preparing mentally for the hard effort ahead. Everyone that is, except for Sarah. Somehow Sarah managed to get exempted from the time trial so she was in a very chipper mood. We ignored her studiously.

Since I had the earliest start time of any of us, I headed out first and met Carmen and Sarah in the parking lot outside Exeter High School, where they had set up a tent and chairs and trainers for us. I warmed up on the road, trying to get more comfortable on my still-new time trial bike. After some hard efforts and many trips to the porta-potty I was ready to go. I lined up behind Kirsten Robbins and listened to Dave Towle give his always-stellar performance on the P.A. system (lately, he has favored analogies to space travel). When it was my turn to start I went hard off the line and watched my heart rate climb and climb. On the hill, I got worried and backed off a bit but I realized later that the heat was making my heart rate faster than normal. I flew down the other side, terrified in my aero bars. In the sharp right turn at the bottom I slammed on my brakes, nervous about the bad pavement and not trusting my time trial bike. My caution on the turns cost me some time, but my mother assures me I did the right thing. The rest of the ride was a world of pain. I was passed by two women and passed three myself; my throat was dry, my lungs heaving, my legs aching. But before I knew it, I was headed down the hill again, flying towards the finish.
It was a tough day out there for all of us but my teammates put in some great rides. Kat got 6^th, Felicia got 8^th and Rebecca got 15^th. We were happy that our team put in such a solid performance. The field this year was very strong, attracted by the $10,000 prize list. We headed home to recover for the next day’s criterium. We were thrilled to hear that our host Ted had also had a good ride in his time trial. He finished ahead of both of his buddies and kept the rubber side down.

The morning of the criterium, Rebecca was in fine form. She was brimming with energy, humming a little tune for her teammates. As it turned out, this was a sign that she was going to have a very good race. We all rode to Visalia from Exeter, getting in a nice warm-up. We met Felicia in Visalia and pre-rode the course after our team meeting. Sarah and I were recruited to be the lead and follow riders for the kids’ race. That was an excellent warm-up for me as the 11 year-old behind me pushed the pace and I had to ride tempo to stay ahead of him. Sarah, on the other hand, almost got taken out by a falling rider in the back of the field.

And then it was time to race. Our strategy was to be aggressive after the first third of the race but we didn’t need to do that, since T-Mobile started sending off attacks right away. The race was fast and many short-lived breaks formed ahead of the field, with Aaron’s represented in all of them. Rebecca and Felicia were especially active while Sarah made sure she got in the moves that looked dangerous. We took three cash primes and definitely made our presence known throughout the race. With 5 laps to go, the officials made a mistake. They briefly flashed 2 laps to go on the lap counter, before changing it to 5. Some of the sprinters, including the T-Mobile squad, our own Sarah Caravella and Colavita’s Mackenzie Dickey saw 2 to go and never looked back. The pace got higher and higher and with 3 laps to go some riders were sprinting for the line. Fortunately for us, Rebecca was still in good position. With Sarah tired from her all-out effort, Rebecca took over and sprinted for the finish, landing an impressive 3^rd place spot on the podium. Nice work Rebecca!!!

It was great to get a chance to race for the first time with Carmen McNellis this weekend and the team is looking forward to taking it up a notch next week at Redlands. Thanks again to our awesome hosts the McCauley family and to the promoters of the Sequoia Cycling Classic for putting on an excellent race!

A focused team pins their numbers on. Nice tan lines, ladies.

Rebecca on the podium!

Pretty poppies.

The famous muruals of Exeter...don't worry, we didn't actually touch the wall.

Merco Credit Union Crit and Road Race

Five of this year's Aaron's team met up in Merced, CA to kick off the 2007 NRC season with two races: a fast, technical crit and a rolling, potentially windy road race. With such a strong squad (Powers, Caravella, Sanders, Gomez and Carroll) we were definitely looking to start the season off with some momentum-building results. Almost 100 riders anxiously began the fight for position before the gun went off. The only entrances to the course were two adjacent 4-ft wide gaps in the fence and everyone stood huddled together waiting for the 35+ men to finish crashing through the course, before we could pour through those two small gaps and take our place on (or WAY behind) the line.

The race started and things were strung out from the get-go. As per Carmen's instructions, we "sat tight" for the first 10 laps of the race to get a feel for how things would go down. We stayed towards the front and eventually tried our hands at getting something off the front. Several moves got small gaps, but the charging field brought most everything back in under half a lap. Coming into 10, then 8 and 5 laps to go it was very obvious that this race was going to end in a field sprint and we all needed to be in the front to do our parts in the leadout. This crit course has a notorious chicane that has caused trouble in years past. While it is not that technically difficult, it seems to cause some sort of weird mind trick on riders, leading them to do stupid things. But this year, it was not to blame for any crashes...Going through with two laps to go with all of our riders in the top 20ish, I thought we were going to finish crash free...until the second to last turn of that lap. Someone in the front lost it and took out a big chunk of the field. Coming through the start/finish on the bell lap, I heard "Caravella's out, kat you're our sprinter." Unfortunately that was the second time we heard that in as many crits as Sarah's 2007 bunch sprint debut was postponed by another crash/mechanical. After sitting on the front for the past several laps to help keep the pace high, I was a little fried. I managed to miss the crash on the final lap that took Felicia out, but couldn't get around the 18 people in front of me. Kristin was the only other Aaron's to cross the line unscathed, and while no one was too badly scraped up, we were anxious to get a better result. Thank goodness for the road race...

After a 6 AM departure in search of eggs, we dined at Paul's Place, a cozy local "Dennys"-like restaurant since IHOP didn't believe anyone needed breakfast before 7 AM. After having some butter with a side of eggs and toast, we headed out of town towards the road course. We had the luxury of driving in through the finish, which was a great way to recon the last 4k of the circuit (as if passing through two times prior to the finish wasn't enough). The tight turns and several rollers were probably the most interesting section of the entire 24-mile loop. We suited up and took to the start line in short sleeves and shorts alone, which was a vast improvement from last year's temperatures in the 40's. Again, the first third of the race would be a chance for us to sit in until it was time to try and create a move. Some people tried to animate the race towards the end of lap one, but most efforts were short lived and the group stayed together.

Another stupid crash in an unlikely place happened just past the feed zone, but luckily all Aaron's riders dodged the carnage without any problems. Felicia had a faux-flat on the bumpy roads and gave us the opportunity to practice getting an important rider back on. She did a great effort to quickly make her way up through the caravan where I was waiting to pull her back up the front. As we came through the rollers at the end of lap 2, Kristin timed a counter attack perfectly and quickly established a 25 second gap. The field was content to let one person go, but once others tried to chase/bridge, the gap came down. Just like in the crit, no one was super motivated to have a break stick, and it was obvious the whole field would be together coming into the last 4k.

Carmen encouraged us to be near the front as we made the final turn going into the last 4k. The pace was high, and with about 2k to go I jumped and got a small gap. It was too small and at the 1k mark the field came charging by and I saw Sarah C. sitting in great position on a Webcor rider's wheel. She was steadily moving up without much effort of her own, and besides dodging a rider or two to avoid being boxed in, found herself in a great spot with 500m to go. She jumped from behind this group at around 300m with a super kick and barely missed out on our first victory for the year. After mechanicals or crashes had stopped her from showing her sprint the last two races, it was nice to see her blow past the strong field for a solid 2nd place podium spot.

Highlights of the weekend:

• Felicia being ferocious on the front during the ENTIRE crit and even winning a prime. The tenaciousness carried over into the road race and she was quick to cover any dangerous move in the road race.
• Kristin establishing a 25-second gap almost IMMEDIATELY after a well-timed counter attack in the road race.
• Powers constantly sacrificing herself to cover moves and helping her teammates into better position in both the road race and the crit.
• After a disappointing crash-out of the crit, Sarah came back and raced a smart road race that put her into position for the win. For her first bunch sprint of the year, not bad.
• And for me, I managed to get a pretty good start to my cycling tan.

Carmen and John provided great direction and support. It's nice to get the "A-team" moving smoothly. Overall, it was a great momentum building weekend for the team. I am looking forward to adding Rebecca to our line-up for CVC next weekend and hope that we'll keep this whole podium thing going.

Santa Clarita

The 2007 the Aaron’s Professional Women’s Cycling Team made their debut this weekend at the season opener in Santa Clarita, California. The race was set to go off at 10:30 on Saturday morning with a multitude of powerhouse teams fighting ferociously to establish their dominance at the first race of the season. The weather was predicted to be a pleasant 70 degrees and with the backdrop of the Tour of California we couldn’t have had a better stage.

After gearing up our radios, conducting our pre-race meeting, we all lined up at the starting line assessing the competition. Other teams: Lipton, T-mobile, Cheerwine, and the Palo-Alto squads all were represented. It was going to be a tough day.

The race started out at a brisk pace as we raced through the 1.2 mile hilly loop. Five (5) laps into the race Katherine Carroll decided to pick up a $50 cash bonus given to the first racer who crossed the line on that lap. The “A Team” took turns attacking the field all day and Felicia Gomez was busy winning the hill-top sprints to win the Queen of the Mountain competition. With only five (5) laps to go in the race and the Queen of the Mountain competition sewn up we geared up for a field sprint. I was going to be the sprinter for the day, so with one lap to go, we all began our formation for the sprint. Right about this time someone from my left hit me hard from the side and crashed into my back wheel taking herself down in the process. I nervously sprinted away only to realize my wheel had taken a hit and was wobbling side to side. We tried to adjust the best we could and Katherine Carroll railed it on the down hill to get 9th in the field sprint. Palo’ Alto’s Brook Miller took the field sprint for first, but we still finished 3 out of 4 in the top 20.

All-in-all Aaron’s was the team of the race, but in bike racing anything can happen. The good news: we won the Queen of the Mountain competition and got our bad luck out of the way on the first race of the year—not bad.

Next weekend: It’s off to Merced, California where we will finish what we started.